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Firestorm Demo Team
The Firestorm Demo Team was an aerobatics display team formed by pilots HawkbitAlpha and MD5Ray01 in August 2014, noted for its opposing aircraft: the "Super Vector", a heavily modified black-and-red C-5M Galaxy piloted by Hawkbit, alongside Ray's black-and-blue "Stratoblade". Until May 2016, it also involved a third aircraft, a second red-and-black Su-47, Hawkbit's "Darkfire", but this was cut from the team, and its colors were adapted into the Super Vector. In June 2016, the team was officially dissolved by the two pilots due to creative conflict, and many of the ideas behind it were redistributed, though the new application of this is not yet known. Background As far back as October 2011, HawkbitAlpha had been experimenting with developing his own aerobatic routine using two specific aircraft: the CF-27D Gyrfalcon and the 241st Su-27 Demo Flanker. In February 2014, he took this to the next level, making several repaints of the CF-27D, and later the Demo Flanker. After a series of edits, the finalized Su-27 was purely an accident; Hawkbit, using Blender, mistakenly applied to the central model piece of his standing all-black Demo Flanker a cherry red color. Only realizing his mistake when testing the aircraft in YS, he liked the result and kept it. In the summer of 2014, after returning to activity on HQ following a brief ban, Hawkbit teamed up with his friend and fellow aerobatics pilot, MD5Ray01. The two got the idea to make their own demo team. However, unlike many others, the two did not use the Su-27 as their aircraft. After seeing the "UnknownPlane RED02" YS short film by kielhyre01, Hawkbit converted the Darkfire Su-27 into an Su-47 with the same color scheme, using the MAKS Su-47 as a template. Intending to have the demo team's aircraft oppose each other, he again repainted the Su-47, this time making the body black with dark blue trim, in direct contradiction to the Darkfire's red body and black trim. Ray christened the black-blue Su-47 himself, naming it the "Stratoblade." Later came the duo's idea to add a third aircraft to the team, a heavy transport. Although the aircraft the two chose has always remained the C-5M Galaxy, it has been through a few different versions. Initially, the aircraft was named the "Invidia Galaxy" (named after the Delain song, Invidia), painted with a Stratoblade-blue body and Darkfire-red trim. However, after much rethinking, this scheme was recalled. The two later decided on painting the aircraft black with bright yellow trim, adding a third color to the FDT's dynamics, and renaming the aircraft the "Super Vector." Taking cues from the Sky Surfer Demo Team's C-17 Globemaster, it also is designed to perform extreme, albeit much more aggressive, maneuvers as part of its routine. It has notably been used by its first two pilots, Sir Madcatter and TheGrandmaster, to perform full loops, inverted flights, and, most dangerously, flatspins. However, at the end of September 2014, Hawkbit was banned from YSFHQ due to issues relating to his group, Team Rage, which put an end to the Firestorm Demo Team for quite some time. VintiXgoIV, the de facto leader of Team Rage's parent group, Task Force 51, joined HQ later and attempted to fill Hawkbit's spot in the FDT. Unfortunately, he was also banned for suspicions regarding his connection to Task Force 51. With this, the team went into total silence for months on end. In late July 2015, Hawkbit uploaded a video to his Youtube channel as part of his group lets play series, The Brick Squad. The first half of the video, which transitions from YS to AssaultCube Reloaded midway through, shows footage of Hawkbit, Ray, and then-friend/Super Vector pilot warping jdog flying their respective Firestorm Demo Team aircraft. The session was intended to be training, but progressively became less serious and turned into an essential blooper reel for the team. In April 2016, with the encouragement of a few close friends, Ray and Hawkbit began working on the FDT again, taking the project much more seriously than before. In May, the two made the decision to cut the Darkfire from the team. With the Darkfire removed, Hawkbit undertook the role as the pilot of the Super Vector. In addition, the Super Vector itself was modified further, adapting the Darkfire's dark red in its trim colors, as well as other aerodynamic changes. In discussing this, they have referred to this setup of the team as "a much more aggressive and transport-oriented version of the Sky Surfers", and have reversed the roles of the two aircraft to oppose that of the Sky Surfers. In June 2016, after much failure to form a solid routine, Ray and Hawkbit officially decided to shut down the FDT project as a whole. However, many of the ideas the two created during its existence are still being kept, and they intend to use them in another duo display. This hypothetical display, however, has not yet been discussed in public. Lineup Final *HawkbitAlpha - C-5M "Super Vector", Pilot #1 (2014, 2015-2016) *MD5Ray01 - Su-47 "Stratoblade", Pilot #2 (2014-2016) Former *HawkbitAlpha - Su-47 "Darkfire" (2014, 2015-2016) *VintiXgoIV - Darkfire (2014) *Sir Madcatter - Super Vector (2014) *TheGrandmaster - Super Vector (2014) *KDFire - Super Vector (2014-2015) *warping jdog - Super Vector (2015)